To the rescue

Atlantic Canadians are rightly renowned for readiness to help a neighbour in need.

So when Ontario Premier Doug Ford, his province’s hospitals being crushed by thousands of new daily cases of COVID-19, desperately asked Atlantic Canada for help two weeks ago, this region’s leaders responded immediately that we’d do what we could.

It didn’t take long.

On Wednesday, a nine-person team of health-care professionals from Newfoundland and Labrador — three doctors, five nurses and a nurse practitioner — arrived in Toronto aboard a military Hercules C-130. They were ready to pitch in to help exhausted medical personnel wherever needed in the city’s hospitals.

Emergency medicine specialist Dr. Allison Furey, who is married to the premier, was among those answering the call. The team plans to be in Toronto anywhere from 10 days to three weeks, with one individual staying until the end of May.

P.E.I. Premier Dennis King said this week that eight health-care providers and nursing students from the Island were ready to help, as well, with details to be worked out.

New Brunswick health officials said that while they couldn’t spare any personnel, they urged retired healthcare professionals and those working outside the public system to volunteer.

Nova Scotia is facing its own caseload crisis — prompting a full two-week lockdown of the province that began Wednesday. So it also could not spare health-care workers, but Premier Iain Rankin said they’d send Ontario any supplies they could spare.

Ottawa is picking up all costs, including travel and salaries, for fully-vaccinated health-care volunteers responding to Ontario’s call for help.

Ford said his province needs up to 600 nurses immediately. Ontario hospitals and their intensive care units have been overwhelmed by thousands of new cases caused by COVID-19 variants.

That will be a tall order, as many Canadian provinces are dealing with nursing shortages of their own, especially ICU nurses.

This region’s contribution may be relatively small, but no doubt it will help make a difference.

Normally, health-care providers wanting to work in another province have to wade through expensive red tape.

Earlier this month, Ontario waived those rules by enacting an order under the province’s Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act to allow out-of-province health-care professionals to pitch right in.

That was a sensible move. But it’s also a reminder that there are still too many bureaucratic barriers in place between provinces that prevent the easy flow — short of an emergency order — of needed health-care professionals.

Even within provinces, bureaucracy can slow the rapid deployment of health-care resources.

For example, in Nova Scotia earlier this year, one former nurse who volunteered to help with the province’s vaccine rollout said she had faced 12 hours of “retraining,” despite only having retired in 2019.

Emergencies often show what can be done quickly — yet still safely — by cutting through red tape.